Giovane's path from left-out to starter exposes Napoli's thin attack

Giovane did not play a minute in the first two league games. Then came an injury and his omission from the UEFA list, the squad Napoli registered for the Champions League. He is now starting the games that matter: he began at Villarreal, at Venezia and, on Tuesday 20 October at the Maradona, against Bodø/Glimt, alongside Lucca.

Against the Norwegians he made the decisive play in the move for 4-2, which ended with Bjørtuft's own goal in the 88th minute after Bodø/Glimt had already come back level twice. Napoli needed it. Two minutes later Fet made it 4-3. Without that play the game would have finished 3-3, and a decisive night for Allegri would have produced a very different headline.

Before the Champions League run there was his assist for De Bruyne in the 3-0 win over Frosinone on Saturday 10 October. In the summer he was kept on despite real doubts about which role he should play. The pecking order has now changed: Allegri has moved him ahead of Lucca as Højlund's understudy.

The other side of the coin

None of this is cause for celebration. Two of Giovane's three starts ended in defeat: 3-1 at Villarreal and 1-0 at Venezia. That is not his fault, but this should not be told as a fairy tale.

Look at the rest of the attack. Højlund has not scored since Saturday 5 September. Alisson Santos is out again with a tear in his left hamstring. Lucca has dropped down the order.

When a player left off the UEFA list becomes a Champions League starter, there are two possible explanations. Either the list was wrong, or the attack is too thin for a club where Giovanni Manna has spent more than €300m across five transfer windows. Either way, someone has to answer for it, and it is not the young man.

Then there is his age. Giovane is not yet 23, and he plays in the squad with the highest average age in Serie A. This Napoli side genuinely needs some generational renewal. But this bit of it came about because a teammate got hurt, not because anyone planned it. Among supporters, one question comes up on its own: how many other young players would have stayed on the outside if Favasuli had not been injured?

Roma come to the Maradona on Saturday 24 October at 18:00 CET (17:00 UK, 12:00 ET). They are third on 17 points, seven ahead of Napoli, and the club has tied its second review of Allegri to this game. Whether Giovane has earned his place matters little. The real question is whether a player who only got back in because of an injury can give the attack the goals Højlund has not scored since 5 September.